News

On April 17, 2018 the world is celebrating the 28th World Hemophilia Day. On this occasion, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (MoH) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report the completion of all procurement procedures for hemophilia medicines under the agreement. Efficient international drug purchase mechanism allowed the MoH and UNDP to save UAH 100 million of budget funds allocated for centralized procurement of hemophilia medicines. These savings will be used to buy additional adult and child hemophilia medicines for treatment of this life-lasting genetic disorder.

Adult and children hemophilia medicines are purchased for funds allocated from the state budget of Ukraine under the centralized procurement procedure by specialized organizations. All 33 medicines for treatment of children and adults with hemophilia were purchased and delivered in accordance with the schedule. Through transparent and effective procedures, UNDP as a purchasing organization managed to achieve lower prices and save UAH 100 million of budget funds. These savings will allow purchasing of additional amounts of hemophilia medicines.

"Competitive tendering (bidding) ensured by international organizations allows purchasing medicines at the best prices. Hence, purchasing more medicines for patients. The number of pharmaceutical manufacturers that participate in direct tenders held by international organizations and offer better deals is increasing every year. Hemophilia is not the only disease category, we are also planning to use savings to purchase additional medicines for patients with blood cancer, Gaucher disease, pulmonary hypertension and some other diseases" noted Olha Stefanyshyna, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine responsible for European Integration.

UNDP reports the 63% progress in medicines procurement procedures under 26 centralized procurement programs. The estimated savings under all programs amounted to UAH 260 million. To date, international organizations have already procured medicines and medical products worth UAH 1.5 billion out of UAH 2.4 billion under the purchase agreements (contracts). UNDP has signed a number of long-term agreements with manufacturers to ensure the fastest possible delivery time.

Janthomas Hiemstra, UNDP Country Director in Ukraine commented: "The impressive achievements in the hemophilia medicines procurement, as well as progress in other programs, demonstrate the efficacy of our work and are the result of recent signing of long-term contracts. Having access to quality medicines is key in this process, this is why UNDP is helping Ukraine in getting high quality medicines for the best price, in a timely manner and through transparent and efficient procurement procedures".

Background information

Hemophilia is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. There are two main types of hemophilia: hemophilia A, which occurs due to not enough clotting factor VIII, and hemophilia B, which occurs due to not enough clotting factor IX. They are typically inherited from one's parents through an X chromosome with a nonfunctional gene.

In Ukraine (with Crimea and Sevastopol statistics absent) approximately 1900 adult and 600 child hemophilia patients are registered at the hospitals.